Blog: Jelf, Love your Graduates

You have a diverse workforce within your business, and each demographic needs different support from you. Love your graduates by supporting them with key life skills.

Graduates are students with a jobYoung people living away from home for the first time often haven’t thought about how they will pay for things like rent, food and other bills as well as going out and having a good time. In some cases, parents may be giving students money every month or every term and they remain blissfully unaware of where their money goes each month and just hit up the bank of mum and dad when they’re running low on cash.

Some students may just rely on their student loans or even have a part time job. But it takes some real money management skills to be able to make that money last until the next instalment; skills that many young people just don’t have. When graduates come into the world of work for the first time, possibly receiving their first pay cheque, how tempting do you think it is to go out and buy themselves that gadget they’ve been eyeing up or buying their friends a round (or three) of drinks?

Graduates in your workplace are still just students who now have jobs – they may be being paid more, but they still don’t know how to manage their money.

What can you do?As you’re the one giving them the pay cheque, doesn’t it make sense for you to give them the skills to manage their money? Helping your employees with their lives outside of work shows that you value them as people, not just as drones in your offices. Work-life balance is vitally important for all employees, but it’s particularly significant for younger employees and can be a key factor for retention. Retaining your employees is obviously beneficial to your business, and education in the workplace is too. You’re not providing employees something for nothing; if you educate them on money matters, you can educate them on how the benefits you offer fit into their financial plans, and even increase engagement with the pension scheme. All of which validates your investment into the benefits you offer.

It’s hard enough to attract new talent, but once you’ve got them through the door that’s not the end of the story. You have to ensure your business is a great place for employees to work when they’re there and when they are living their lives outside of work.